ORLANDO, Fla. (Legal Newsline) – A Florida man is suing a fast-food chain following a data breach that allegedly exposed consumers' private information.
Jonathan Torres, individually and for all others similarly situated, filed a class-action lawsuit Feb. 8 in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida against The Wendy's Co., alleging breach of implied contract, negligence, and violations of Florida's Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
On Jan. 27, 2016, the suit states, Wendy's announced that hackers used malicious software to steal credit and debit card data on computers that operate the payment processing systems for Wendy's restaurants.
The suit alleges Wendy's acknowledged the weakness of its security system, and that it had taken steps to strengthen its security system since the data breach.
However, the suit alleges Wendy's could have prevented the data breach by adopting technology that helps make transactions more secure, especially as the software used in the data breach was allegedly likely a variant of the "BlackPOS" strain that hackers used in last year's data breach at many other retail establishments.
As a result, Torres and others in the class have had their private information compromised and stolen.
Torres and other class members seek restitution and disgorgement, actual and compensatory damages, other equitable relief, attorney fees and costs of the suit. They are represented by attorneys John A. Yanchunis, Patrick A. Barthle II, Marcio W. Valladares and Paul L. Sangiovanni of Morgan & Morgan Complex Litigation Group in Tampa, Florida.
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida Case number 6:16-CV-00210-PGB-DAB